I applied to 40 schools please validate my suffering by chancing me [international, 84/84 GPA, 1450 SAT, top 1% rank, <$5k; biology]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics: Male, African(Multi-country identity), Tier 1 National School, and

hooks (URM, first generation, legacy, athlete, etc.): Gay, Multi-country identity, 5 languages etc

Intended Major(s): Biology related stuff(connected to my essays about CRISPR and invlovement to get GMO ban in my country lifted)

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 84/84
  • Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 84/84
  • Class Rank: 2/418(school) 9/900000(national)
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1450(730ER. 720M)

Coursework

  • Country curriculum. Bio, chem, phyc, math, eng, local language, comps, history, woodwork, drawing and design and agriculture (Top grades overrall)

Awards
International Business Competition Judges Choice

Best in Comps, Bio, Chem in inter-school exams(multiple) awarded by principal and education ministry

International Brain Organization Competition finalist

Continent Research competition 3rd

Continent Aviation Club competition finalist

National engineering fair finalist

national math contest finalist

Extracurriculars
*Founded robotics and coding club. Arranged numerous hackathons and made systems for other schools. (Supported by Microsoft)

International non-profit lead for my country

Worked for 3 STEM Non-profits

Worked for non-profit to spread gender equality

National Farmers Club

Debater and MUN (National and international competition quarters)

Journalism. made magz, managed 5 insta accounts, arranged charities

Volunteer at slums and made art for mental hospitals

UN Environmental club (UNEP Sponsored)

Plant the planet games (supported by Ireland)

National Music Society

Helping reduce human wildlife conflict by preventing illegal zebra meat trade and preventing lion-human conflict at park edges

China Institute in country to promote Mandarin

Essays:

Pretty decent. Can’t tell. Talked about LGBTQ, cooking african cusine, ending famine, learning mandarin and some others

LORs:

Can’t judge. But i knew all my teachers well.

Math teacher. English teacher. COmps sci teacher. physics teacher

Schools: T40 basically all RD (All ivies), Wesleyan ED2 , didn’t have time for REA

Can anybody advice me about my SAT aswell. should i submit

Cost Constraints / Budget
Full rides or 5k EFC

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You already applied, right?

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yes

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@Mwfan1921 @MYOS1634 so…this student has already applied to 40 colleges some of which have deadlines that have passed.

Can they add their SAT score if they chose to originally apply test optional?

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Did you vet your “T40” list for colleges that have the means to offer financial aid to international students? Otherwise, you can “thin” your list from the outset.

Your SAT puts you in the top 3% - but unfortunately that’s also defines the pool of students that typically apply to the top tier of colleges.
One often-cited approach is to look up the “25th percentile SAT score” for each college. If it’s above 1450, then your SAT score will not necessarily hurt your application to that college, but is unlikely to give your application an extra boost. So one strategy could be, not to submit to those colleges.

You’ll just have to do your homework on that.

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That policy varies from school to school, OP has to check each school’s website and/or portal for direction.

I would lean towards sending a 1450 to all OP’s schools (based on limited info), as OP is low income and URM.

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If you didn’t submit your SAT, you probably should, no matter what schools you applied to. SATs are very important for international applicants, since US admissions committees are often unfamiliar with your high schools. Your scores indicate good mastery of math and English, so they’re worth submitting, even if they are below 50th% at such selective schools. Send them everywhere you apply.

Being gay won’t be a hook anywhere - colleges don’t care about this.

You need a full ride, and most schools don’t necessarily offer that to international students. I hope that you submitted applications to the several “little Ivies” that offer need blind admissions to int’l students, but if you haven’t, it looks like you can still get one in for Amherst and Bowdoin, which both meet full need for int’l and are need blind for int’l. Amherst is Jan 3, Bowdoin is Jan 5, so hurry!!! They are both top schools. Also, there are several schools that are need aware, but do meet full need for those int’l students that they accept. Of these, I think that U of Richmond and Trinity college are possible for you - you should apply to these. The rest of the ones on that list I think are unlikely to take you, but it’s worth a shot. Vassar, Swarthmore, Middlebury, Duke, Davidson, Colgate, CalTech.

You are running the chance of not getting in anywhere, but with essentially no budget, I don’t think it’s worth applying anywhere else, since even if they were to take you, they’re extremely unlikely to give you enough money to make it possible for you to attend.

You need to move on this immediately, since deadlines are right now.

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Are these hooks applicable to international applicants?

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Call me a bit cynical. You applied to all the top 40 schools and answered all the essay prompts, and the day after most deadlines passed are looking to CC for advice for the first time? Seems curious but I will bite.

Taking you at your word I think your essays are at risk of being generic given the sheer volume of material you would have been required to produce. Peer letters of rec for Dartmouth, “Why Brown”, U Chicago and Bowdoin specific prompts etc. Hard to see how you could have managed all this from 40 schools and only now contemplated submitting test scores.

If you nailed it given your stats and unique narrative you have a shot but 40 quality applications is a tall hill to climb.

Assuming you to be legitimate, I wish you luck.

Certainly unique!!

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Even if the low income/URM hooks don’t help as much in admissions as they might for a domestic student (or maybe at all at certain schools), that 1450 SAT in context is what is important…and that is a good score in context (circumstances, and likely HS) as far as I can tell, again based on limited info. I might hesitate to send that score to MIT or CalTech. Hopefully @MYOS1634 answers, I definitely defer to what they say.

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The other one to consider (if it wasn’t already on the list, which it doesn’t sound like it was) is Berea College, which serves only low-income students and gives a full ride (with living expenses covered by on-campus work program) to all who attend. It’s in rural Kentucky, but they seem to be doing pretty well on LGBTQ+ issues How Ket Perkins and the SGA Moved Berea College to Condemn Anti-Gay and Anti-Trans Bills in the Kentucky House and Senate . Solid choice for life sciences, and very strong and supportive alumni network. They aim for about 8% of the student body to be international students, although this dropped a little in the pandemic years. They have an EAII cycle (non-binding early action) with January 31st deadline and a response date in mid-to-late February.

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